Online behavioral advertising
Definition Online behavioral advertising (also called targeted online advertising and more recently interest-based advertising (IBA)) means Overview As they browse the web, blog, join social networks and play online games, consumers are providing advertisers with reams of data. Advertisers and marketing firms can generate still more information when consumers sign up for email promotions or buy products online. Most online activity is monitored via cookies (small text files that can store data), which are placed on that user’s computer when he or she visits a website. The information can be used to create behavioral advertising — targeted ads based on individual information. Issues First, while behavioral advertising provides benefits to consumers in the form of free web content and personalized ads that many consumers value, the practice itself is largely invisible and unknown to consumers. The benefits include, for example, access to newspapers and information from around the world, provided free because it is subsidized by online advertising; tailored ads that facilitate comparison shopping for the specific products that consumers want; and, potentially, a reduction in ads that are irrelevant to consumers' interests and that may therefore be unwelcome. Although many consumers value these benefits, few appear to understand the role that data collection plays in providing them. Second, business and consumer groups alike cherish the values of transparency and consumer autonomy, and view them as critical to the development and maintenance of consumer trust in the online marketplace. Third, regardless of whether one views behavioral advertising as beneficial, benign, or harmful, there are reasonable concerns about the possibility of consumer data collected for this purpose falling into the wrong hands or being used for unanticipated purposes. FTC Principles Given the importance of these issues, the FTC released a Staff Report titled Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising in February 2009. These principles cover only online behavioral advertising, which means “the tracking of a consumer’s online activities over time.” The principles make clear that so-called “first party” advertising (where no information is shared with a third party) and contextual advertising (where the ad is based on a single page visit or search) are not covered by the principles. Transparency and consumer control To address the need for greater transparency and consumer control regarding privacy issues raised by behavioral advertising, the FTC staff proposes: Reasonable security, and limited data retention, for consumer data To address the concern that data collected for behavioral advertising may find its way into the hands of criminals or other wrongdoers, the FTC staff proposes: Limited data retention for consumer data To address concerns about the length of time companies are retaining consumer data, the FTC staff proposes: Affirmative express consent for material changes to existing privacy promises To address the concern that companies may not keep their privacy promises when they change their privacy policies, FTC staff proposes: Affirmative express consent to (or prohibition against) using sensitive data for behavioral advertising To address the concern that sensitive data — medical information or children’s activities online, for example — may be used in behavioral advertising, FTC staff proposes: References Source * FTC Staff Report: Self-Regulatory Principles For Online Behavioral Advertising (Feb. 2009). See also * Behavioral targeter * Behavioral targeting * Self-Regulatory Principles For Online Behavioral Advertising * Targeted advertising External resources * Rick Boucher, Behavioral Ads: The need for privacy protection, The Hill (Sept. 24, 2009) (full-text). * Lori Deschene, What is Behavioral Targeting?, BNET (Apr. 28, 2004) (full-text). Category:Advertising Category:Internet Category:Privacy Category:Definition